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Target Posts A 15% Profit Increase For 1Q
By Chris Crum
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2005-05-12
Target Corp.'s profit for the first quarter increased by 15% thanks to a large growth in sales. The company made $494 million, compared to $432 million for the same period last year.
Target exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts. Most thought that Target's earnings would be somewhere in the 53 - 54 cent per share range. Target actually reported 55 cents per share.
Target's credit card operations were another factor in the company's earnings increase. The company's Credit card revenue went up 12.6% to $321 million. Pretax profit from these operations went up 27.9%. According to MarketWatch,
For the quarter that ended April 30, Target rang up sales of $11.17 billion, 13% ahead of last year's sales of $9.91 billion. Total revenue also advanced 13%, to $11.48 billion from $10.18 billion a year ago.
Same-store sales, a benchmark that measures sales at stores open longer than a year, climbed 6.2% for the quarter. April's weak same-store sales were offset by strong results in the first two months of the quarter.
Yesterday Target shares closed up 69 cents at $48.20, but in premarket trading today, the shares dropped 34 cents to $47.86. Rival retailer, Wal-Mart's shares fell as well after the company failed to meet Wall Street's expectations.
About the Author:
Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.
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